Syria will allow in U.N. inspectors to probe allegations that the country was building a nuclear reactor at a remote site destroyed in an Israeli airstrike, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday.
IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei did not say whether his inspectors would be granted access to the site during the planned June 22-24 visit. But a senior diplomat familiar with the details of the planned visit told The Associated Press that agency personnel had been told they could visit the facility. The diplomat also said agency experts were also interested in two other locations with possible undeclared nuclear facilities.
The diplomat, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, told The Associated Press that agency experts will be asking for information on the possible existence of two plutonium reprocessing facilities.
Syrian officials in Damascus did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
Syria would need plutonium reprocessing capabilities if it were — as the United States and Israel charge — trying to build produce material for the fissile core of nuclear weapons.
IAEA interested in 3 other sites?
Another diplomat familiar with the IAEA trip plans told The AP that there were three other possible nuclear sites about which the IAEA was seeking information.
A third diplomat briefed on the IAEA plans for the trip said the agency had been informed about the possible additional sites by the United States. That diplomat told The AP that the IAEA had not seen the U.S. intelligence itself.
The Syrians have already been informed about the additional suspicions, said the third diplomat.